Antoine Walker came up three assists shy of his first-career
triple-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds as the Boston
Celtics held the Washington Wizards to just 10 fourth-quarter
points, rallying for a 97-88 victory.

Rookie Chauncey Billups scored nine of his 15 points and Walter
McCarty added eight of his 10 in the final period for Boston,
which has won two straight games following a five-game losing
streak and improved to 6-0 against teams under .500.

Boston trailed 82-71 with 10:37 to play but reeled off 12
straight points, keyed by six from McCarty. Juwan Howard, who
had 22 points and seven rebounds, hit a bank shot to put the
Wizards back in front, 84-83 with 4:46 to play.

But Billups and Walker answered with back-to-back three-pointers
and rookie Ron Mercer, who scored 14 points, drained a jumper to
cap an 8-0 spurt with 3:12 to play.

"I don't think we ever lost our confidence during this game, or
our composure," Celtics coach Rick Pitino said. "When we got
the lead, I told the team not to celebrate."

"We had 11- and 13-point leads, and we started to celebrate,"
Wizards coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. "We assumed the
basketball game was over. They deserved to win."

Calbert Cheaney's leaner pulled the Wizards within 91-88 but
McCarty responded with a jumper and Billups scored the final
four points to seal the win, Boston's first against Washington
since April 17th, 1996.

The Celtics lost all four meetings last season against
Washington, which had won three straight games in Boston and had
not lost there since November 17th, 1995.

Chris Webber had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Wizards
(9-13), who have won all four home games at the new MCI Center
but fell to 1-6 in their last seven on the road.

Tracy Murray, who had 13 points and seven rebounds off the
bench, sank two free throws to give Washington its biggest lead,
76-63 with 3:26 left in the third quarter. Webber scored six in
that period, helping the Wizards to a 78-69 edge, and his dunk
with 10:37 remaining increased the lead to 82-71.

"We were down 10 points, that's really not a lot. We weren't
about to let it get down to 20," said Walker, who played 47
minutes. "We knew that they were fatigued, and they didn't
expect us to play the press the full 48 minutes."

Travis Knight hit a 10-foot baseline jumper with less than a
minute later to spark the 20-2 run. Mercer's two free throws
gave Boston its first lead since the second quarter at 83-82
with 5:03 to play.

"If you don't go for the jugular when you have the game, you're
in trouble," Bickerstaff said. "We got a little careless and we
didn't finish."

Walker and Tyus Edney each had five of Boston's 17 steals.
Eleven players scored for the Celtics, who forced 23 turnovers
and shot 48 percent (40-for-84) from the field.

"Coach (Pitino) got after us to play 'D' and not back down and
we came out victorious," said Billups, who is averaging 18.0
points over the last three games.

Cheaney had 14 points and seven rebounds for Washington, which
shot 42 percent (32-of-76) and made just 2-of-13 three-pointers.